Pardes (legend)
Pardes (
The basic story goes as follows:
Four entered the orchard:
Sources differ concerning which sage died and which became demented; the Tosefta and the
Etymology
The Hebrew word
Samson Levey proposed the Greek paradosis suggests the four were examining the claims and early documents of Christianity and that the Tosefta account preserves the scholarly undertaking most accurately.[4][5]
Account
The story is found in several places, with minor variations: the
The Rabbis taught: Four entered the Pardes. They were Ben Azzai, Ben Zoma, Acher and Rabbi Akiva. Rabbi Akiva said to them, "When you come to the place of pure marble stones, do not say, 'Water! Water!' for it is said, 'He who speaks untruths shall not stand before My eyes'[10]". Ben Azzai gazed and died. Regarding him the verse states, 'Precious in the eyes of G-d is the death of His pious ones'.[11] Ben Zoma gazed and was harmed (also trans. went mad). Regarding him the verse states, 'Did you find honey? Eat only as much as you need, lest you be overfilled and vomit it'.[12] Acher cut down the plantings. Rabbi Akiva entered in peace and left in peace.[13]
Versions of the story also appear in the esoteric Hekhalot literature.[14]
Exposition
Rashi says that ben Azzai died from looking at the Divine Presence. Ben Zoma's harm was in losing his sanity. Acher's "cutting down the plantings" in the orchard refers to becoming a heretic from the experience. Acher means "the other one", and is the Talmudic term for the tanna Elisha ben Abuyah (Yerushalmi identifies him as EbA on the following line; MSS Munich 6 of the Bavli and Hekhalot Zutarti read "Elisha ben Abuyah" in place of "Acher"). Akiva, in contrast to the other three, became the leading Rabbinic figure of the era.
Rashi explains that the four rabbis ascended to Heaven by utilizing the Divine Name, which might be understood as achieving a spiritual elevation through Jewish meditation practices.
The Tosafot, medieval commentaries on the Talmud, say that the four sages "did not go up literally, but it appeared to them as if they went up."[15] On the other hand, Rabbi Louis Ginzberg wrote that the journey to paradise "is to be taken literally and not allegorically".[16]
According to another interpretation,
Interpretation in Kabbalah
Another version of the legend is also found in the mystical literature (Zohar I, 26b and Tikunei haZohar 40), which adds to the story:
The ancient Saba (an old man) stood up and said (to Shimon bar Yochai), "Rabbi, Rabbi! What is the meaning of what Rabbi Akiva said to his students, "When you come to the place of pure marble stones, do not say 'Water! Water!' lest you place yourselves in danger, for it is said, 'He who speaks untruths shall not stand before My eyes.'" But it is written, 'There shall be a firmament between the waters and it shall separate between water (above the firmament) and water (below the firmament)' (Genesis 1:6). Since the Torah describes the division of the waters in to upper and lower, why should it be problematic to mention this division? Furthermore, since there are upper and lower waters why did Rabbi Akiva warn them, "do not say, 'Water! Water!'""
The Holy Lamp (a title for Shimon bar Yochai) replied, "Saba, it is proper that you reveal this secret that the chevraya (Rabbi Shimon's circle of disciples) have not grasped clearly."
The ancient Saba answered, "Rabbi, Rabbi, Holy Lamp. Surely the pure marble stones are the letter yud—one the upper yud of the letter aleph, and one the lower yud of the letter aleph. Here there is no spiritual impurity, only pure marble stones, so there is no separation between one water and the other; they form a single unity from the aspect of the Tree of Life, which is the vav in the midst of the letter aleph. In this regard it states, 'and if he take of the Tree of Life (and eat and live forever)' (Genesis 3:22) ..."[17]
Moses ben Jacob Cordovero explains the Zoharic passage in his Pardes Rimonim ("Orchard of Pomegranates"), whose title itself refers to the Pardes mystical ascent (Pardes: Shaar Arachei HaKinuim, entry on Mayim-Water). The meaning of the ascent is understood through Rabbi Akiva's warning. The danger concerns misinterpreting anthropomorphism in Kabbalah, introducing corporeal notions in the Divine. Emanations in Kabbalah bridge between the Ein Sof Divine Unity and the plurality of Creation. The fundamental mystical error involves separating between divine transcendence and immanence, as if they were a duality. Rather, all Kabbalistic emanations have no being of their own, but are nullified and dependent on their source of vitality in the One God. Nonetheless, Kabbalah maintains that God is revealed through the life of His emanations, Man interacting with Divinity in a mutual Flow of "Direct Light" from Above to Below and "Returning Light" from Below to Above. The Sefirot, including Wisdom, Compassion and Kingship comprise the dynamic life in God's Persona. In the highest of the Four Worlds (Atziluth), the complete nullification and Unity of the sefirot and Creation is revealed within its Divine source. Apparent separation only pertains, in successive degrees, to the lower Three Worlds and our Physical Realm. Introducing false separation causes the exile of the Shekhinah within Creation from God. From Cordovero's explanation:
The meaning of Rabbi Akiva's warning is that the Sages should not declare that there are two types of water, since there are not, lest you endanger yourself because of the sin of separation. ... The marble stones represent the letter י
Vav in the א aleph), which is Compassion, unites them. ... There is no separation other than in a place of spiritual impurity, but "Here there is no impurity ... the Tree of Life" in Atzilut.[17]
See also
- Pardes (exegesis)
- Elisha ben Abuyah
- Jewish eschatology#World to come
- Garden of Eden
- Maaseh Breishit and Maaseh Merkavah
- Merkabah mysticism
- Four Worlds
- Jewish eschatology
References
- ^ "Tosefta Chagigah 2:2". www.sefaria.org.
- ^ מילים שמקורן בפרסית
- ^ paradise (n.)
- ^ S.H. Levey, "The Best Kept Secret of the Rabbinic Tradition". Judaism. vol. 21, no. 4. 1972, 468.
- ^ The Text and I: Writings of Samson H. Levey. edited by Stanley F. Chyet. Series: South Florida Studies in the History of Judaism. no. 166. Atlanta, Ga: Scholars Press. 1998. pp. 46–57.
- ^ Tosefta Hagigah 2:2
- ^ Hagigah 14b
- ^ Jerusalem Talmud Hagigah 2:1
- ^ Shraga Bar-On and Eugene D. Matanky, "Revelation as Heresy Mysticism and Elisha ben Abuyah’s Apostasy in Classic Rabbinic Literature," in Canonization and Alterity: Heresy in Jewish History, Thought, and Literature, ed. G. Sharvit and W. Goetschel (Berlin: De Gruyter, 2020), 50–83
- ^ Psalms 101:7
- ^ Psalms 116:15
- ^ Proverbs 25:16
- ^ Babylonian Talmud, Hagigah 14b
- ^ David J. Halperin, A new edition of the Hekhalot literature (Review of Synopse zur Hekhalot-Literatur by Peter Schäfer), Journal of the American Oriental Society 104(3):543-552.
- ^ A. W. Streane, A Translation of the Treatise Chagigah from the Babylonian Talmud (Cambridge University Press, 1891). p. 83.
- Jewish Encyclopedia, 1901-1906.
- ^ a b [1] from ascentofsafed.com